Why use Plex when Kodi is cheaper?

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lukyjay

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May 13, 2016
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Hello

Just curious about something. When setting up a FreeNAS server, you generally need a bit of CPU to support Plex transcoding.

What are the benefits of this? Why don't people just serve their media files over the network and have clients like Kodi play them directly? It would save some money.

This is assuming you have a client capable of running Kodi of course, which most of us do (Raspbery Pi for example)

Thanks
Jay
 

depasseg

FreeNAS Replicant
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Sep 16, 2014
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Why don't people just serve their media files over the network and have clients like Kodi play them directly? It would save some money.
Because plex users aren't always on their local network (like when travelling). Hence the need to transcode to accommodate reduced available bandwidth. When on the local network, the media is usually streamed directly.
 

pirateghost

Unintelligible Geek
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Plex isn't all about streaming locally. Sharing with family and friends is a big plus.
 

adrianwi

Guru
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Oct 15, 2013
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And the interface is so much nicer than Kodi or emby :D

Plex have actually just released a Kodi version to plexpass subscribers so you can now run Plex from Kodi, if you really wanted. I don't see the point of Kodi though unless you're looking for dodgy content as there are much better solutions to providing local content, of which Plex is one!
 
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